THE COMPOSITION
Costus root, Siam wood, Hinoki, Smoldering paper, Cardamom

In Japanese mythology, karasu tengu are powerful and vengeful spirits who live in the midst of deep forests, often taking the appearance of crows or of wandering priests. Those brave enough may call upon them through prayer and incense-burning if they are lost, confused, or helpless. Apoteker Tepe’s Karasu combines some of the most traditional raw materials in kōdō, the Japanese incense ritual, to create a fragrance that expresses the spare, transcendent asceticism of a prayer rendered in smoke, dissipating in midair.

"The aster
has flowered, its
pale purple
like the color of smoke
rising from my reveries.
A flock of crows
utterly motionless
turn into pieces
of charcoal, as the flames
from the falling sun subside."

— YOSANO AKIKO

Part of the Apoteker Tepe Collection, by Holladay Saltz